My electric car has no sound ?

[Warren Lake]

I said years ago electric will have to have sound and there is a market for some people to get together. With an audio and car background might have been smart but in too many directions already.

So i see this now and looks like the people that did this did an excellent job. Now a real car experience on top. No matter what sound is part of it, yeah they had a whine and this and that some of them sounded decent but just not the same.

Well done to the guys who did this.

McFly Technology


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKwx0WGoN_A

[Brian Elfert]

For a lot of people one of the attractions of electric cars is the lack of engine and drivetrain noise. They like the silence.

[Doug Dawson]

Now what would be _really_ cool is if you could plug in your own sound loops. Like, say, from an ice cream truck.

[Alex Zeller]

I find the tires are often most of the noise a car makes. I wonder people will start to demand quieter tires?

[roger wiegand]

We have lots of electric cars around here (probably 1 in 20 at this point) and I haven't noticed them being any quieter, at least from the outside (I haven't driven one yet). Most modern cars are already so quiet that the tire noise is the primary contributor. The early fears that they would be so quiet that people would get run over because they could't hear them seem unfounded.

[Frederick Skelly]

Now what would be _really_ cool is if you could plug in your own sound loops. Like, say, from an ice cream truck.

.......or Mr. Magoo! :)

[Jim Matthews]

This will be the first Alfa Romeo that duzznt leak oil.

****

My KIA Niro EV sounds like a drowning blender when backing out of the driveway. They do this so you can't sneak up on people loading their groceries.

Count me in the camp that prefers quiet.

[Warren Lake]

Ill take the sound. No silent power heads for me.

[Brian Elfert]

We have lots of electric cars around here (probably 1 in 20 at this point) and I haven't noticed them being any quieter, at least from the outside (I haven't driven one yet). Most modern cars are already so quiet that the tire noise is the primary contributor. The early fears that they would be so quiet that people would get run over because they could't hear them seem unfounded.

There is a federal law that requires quiet vehicles to emit a sound any time they travel below 18.6 MPH. The requirement went into effect in 2020.

I think it is a little bit silly as now we will have downtowns that are like large construction sites with all the beepers going off.

[Kev Williams]

I have to chuckle-- many years ago, well before the internet, there was a company that made an "audio manipulator" (? for lack of a better definition) that connected to your car's stereo system and your engine's negative coil output wire (to reference engine speed), and what it did was play thru your stereo speakers, the sounds of different types of engines in perfect sync with your car's engine. So even if you were driving a Yugo your stereo could make it sound like you were driving an Indy car, or a Ferrari, or a 427 Cobra, a Fiat Spider, a V6 Buick, etc etc.., all without bothering anyone outside the car.

The blappy racket in that video is, to the best of my hearing, meant to simulate a flat-plane crank V8 Indy car. I'm curious as to how this McFly thing will simulate a running engine while in motion since there's no 'engine speed' reference with an electric car... Computer algorithm I guess ;)

-and, 18.6 mph? Who came up with that number? Reminds me of a bottle of wine I saw for sale once, $910.15 -- and 15 cents??

[Don Orr]

My Prius Prime plug-in makes a small noise up to about 15 mph to let people know you are moving. I made the dealer silence the back-up beeper which only sounds inside the car. Made me nuts, and pointless to anyone outside the car.

[Don Orr]

-and, 18.[SIZE=3]6 [SIZE=2]mph? Who came up with that number?

That's 30 Kph.

[Bill Dufour]

I understand the Tesla is much louder inside the the competition ICE cars. So loud that many buyers refuse to buy after a test drive.
Bil lD

[John K Jordan]

...
My KIA Niro EV sounds like a drowning blender when backing out of the driveway. They do this so you can't sneak up on people loading their groceries.

Count me in the camp that prefers quiet.

Walking in a city in Italy a friend told me of the hazard with silent electric bikes. He said sometimes (mostly) older women drive them on pedestrian sidewalks and run into people who can't hear them coming from behind. Driving on the sidewalks is supposed to be prohibited but that doesn't stop them.

[Jim Matthews]

He said sometimes (mostly) older women drive them on pedestrian sidewalks and run into people who can't hear them coming from behind. Driving on the sidewalks is supposed to be prohibited but that doesn't stop them.

Older women running us down? Who could have guessed?

[Bob Turkovich]

Older women running us down? Who could have guessed?

Not much different than with shopping carts at the supermarket...

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I want a chitty-chitty-bang-bang noise.

[Jim Matthews]

I want a chitty-chitty-bang-bang noise.

Tardis, for mine please.

[Mike Henderson]

I drove a few different all-electric vehicles recently and didn't notice any extra sound, even when going slow. Maybe I couldn't hear it inside the car.

Mike

[Roger Feeley]

I have read that they might have to put some sort of noise maker in electrics for the sight impaired. My hope is that once all the gas cars are gone, the overall traffic noise will lessen and they can lose the noise maker.

[Kev Williams]

I rode a very quiet for-what-it-was V65 Magna for 7 years, and probably once every 5 trips I had to stop, speed up or move over so whoever didn't see or HEAR me didn't run me down...

I've owned this thing for 29 years,
453919
and not one time while driving it has anyone ever forced me to slow down, speed up or change lanes. Even deaf people can hear (feel) this thing.

And for what it's worth, the tires on cars, especially at speed, are usually the noisiest part OF the car. As a test, pull over under an overpass on a busy freeway, roll the window down and try to make a phone call... ;)

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Kev, I had a V45 Magna and it was quiet too. It was always in the garage with messed up carbs.
For the last 15 years I've owned Harleys. Mechanically they're light years ahead of their previous reputation.
Around here, with so many aggressive and generally unknowing (AKA DUMB A$$ IGNORANT) drivers I can't be sure any of them have hearing OR eyesight to know I'm there.
But I'll give it up when they won't let me drive any more.

[Jim Matthews]

... I can't be sure any of them have hearing OR eyesight to know I'm there.
But I'll give it up when they won't let me drive any more.

The first mockup of the F117 stealth fighter had the pilot seated on a scoot, to render him invisible.

[John K Jordan]

...I can't be sure any of them have hearing OR eyesight to know I'm there.
...

When I drove motorcycles on the road I ALWAYS acted as if I was invisible. That saved me from many close calls or worse.
I never had that problem with dirt bikes. Never once had a tree pull out in front of me.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Ten years ago, a fellow here had a street legal electric bike/cycle. The first time I saw him go down the street was at dusk. There was no sound at all. At first I though I imagined the thing because it was so quiet. All I could hear was the sound of the vehicles coming the other way. As it turns out, he was in two bad accidents with pedestrians because no one could hear the thing coming. Got to the point that he had to blow the horn every time he saw some one standing on the curb.

[Warren Lake]

John had street and dirt bikes and one Motocross. On a 175 Kawi young on trails guy came around a corner and we hit head on tall grass small trail, we both flew past each other in the air. no one hurt just the bikes front ends bent up. Just the kind of trail and timing. No trees ran out in front of me.

Road bikes yeah stuff happened. People change lanes a few times not knowing I was there and likely I should never have been there. Not ideal when you are on a highway, I could see it really upset them though stunned there was a bike. I only ever went down once and that was coming off the highway onto the ramp and going super slow as it had rained earlier. there was oil from cars on the ramp and maybe a hair of damp, like black ice in the summer, so I did a slow speed thing and it was slow and planted on the ground hitting a curb. broke my crankcase over and more but all repairable. Way back then K81 tires comical compared to todays stuff. Those on CB750 Hondas. Dinasours but I loved them over 4k they just sang. I got my first mini bike at 12 direct drive hold the thing on the spark plug to shut it off. It caught on fire twice second time was good as I got a larger motor and a centrifugal clutch, really moved up in the world, no more getting zapped either.

[Andrew Joiner]

Ten years ago, a fellow here had a street legal electric bike/cycle. The first time I saw him go down the street was at dusk. There was no sound at all. At first I though I imagined the thing because it was so quiet. All I could hear was the sound of the vehicles coming the other way. As it turns out, he was in two bad accidents with pedestrians because no one could hear the thing coming. Got to the point that he had to blow the horn every time he saw some one standing on the curb.
I was between 2 cars in my friends driveway last week. I stepped out on the sidewalk and a teenager on an E bike missed me by inches! He was going fast and didn't even look back or stop.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

My Prius Prime plug-in makes a small noise up to about 15 mph to let people know you are moving. I made the dealer silence the back-up beeper which only sounds inside the car. Made me nuts, and pointless to anyone outside the car.

Not so pointless to the dozens of people who put the car in the wrong gear and plow through store windows every other day. Had two such cases last Friday. One driver 74, the other 83. Had an office in a building with a Chiropractor on the first floor. At least once a week some body drove/backed over the parking lot curbs. Was kind of scary the second time some body actually hit the building.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

When I drove motorcycles on the road I ALWAYS acted as if I was invisible. That saved me from many close calls or worse.
I never had that problem with dirt bikes. Never once had a tree pull out in front of me.

My kids gave me a Harley last year for father's day. Haven't ridden in almost 50 years. They expect me to use it, but the few times I was out on it were scary from the standpoint of folks who just plain don't see. So I pretty much stick to country roads.

[Warren Lake]

easy for me to stick to country roads, "take me home" blah blah blah rumble rumble. Something very nice about often being the only one on the road.

454015

[Bill Dufour]

Model trains have had sound systems installed in the locomotives for decades. On board speakers for engine noise, whistle etc.
Bill D.

[Bob Turkovich]

This is nothing new. Back in the early 2000's, Honda installed underhood speaker systems on select models to enhance the drive-by noise. (Someone else may have done it sooner.) They were losing sales in the important young SoCal "street-racing" market as their vehicles were considered poor performers to their competition even though their acceleration numbers were comparable. They were too quiet and that resulted in an incorrect image. The improved sound significantly raised their perception and resulting sales performance.

The same could have been accomplished by re-tuning the exhaust and induction systems but this was quicker and didn't require recertification.

Active NVH systems (typically inside the passenger compartment) have become quite the norm since then but more for reducing noise than enhancing it.